Orsini
Orsini is a Brunanter watch manufacturer based in Koningstad. The company is best known for its sports watches, in particular the <> sweep feature on their high-end watches from the mid-1960s. Their best-known current model is the Orsini Speedometer. History Ettore Orsini (1910-1997) was a Swiss-Italian watchmaker, who was an executive at Berlinger. In the 1960s, the other executives at the company were turning away from sport watches, which was something Orsini hoped the company would make. Orsini then quit Berlinger and started his own watch manufacturing company in 1961. Orsini watches were hard to sell at first, but Ettore's attention to quality made them rather popular among his customers. In 1972, Orsini introduced Brunant's first battery-powered quartz watch. Since the 1970s, Orsini sport watches have become well-renowned in Brunant and abroad. In 1986, they became the official watch of the Brunant Open tennis tournament, as well as the official timekeeper of the First League football competition in 1995. Models Orsini Sportief The Sportief was the first watch made by Orsini; the first models were produced in 1961. These had a round case, a somewhat small face, which told the date and had a calendar hand. Early models had a stitched leather band, but that was replaced by a plain brown one by 1962 due to costs. An upgraded and more expensive Sportief model came in 1966. This one was the first to feature the blue leather straps that have become iconic. They also had a speedometer inspired sweep for the seconds instead of the more common sweep hands. This has since been known as the <> and is the rarest Orsini watch, as just for the speedometer feature, it was twice the price of the standard model. Orsini Sportief.png|Orsini Sportief Orsini Sportief speedometer.png|Sportief <> Orsini Victoria The Victoria was an automatic racing watch produced from 1968 to 1975. The Victoria was named after the famed Victoria racetrack in Libertas. It was offered with a rally strap, or from 1969 with a Milanese strap. The watch was quite accurate in its timekeeping and became used by several Brunanter racers such as the Brunants Rally, but foreign races as well. Orsini Timemaster The Timemaster was the first automatic chronograph introduced by Orsini, going on sale in April 1973. The Timemaster could tell the time in two different zones simultaneously, came with a stopwatch and told the date and day (in both Dutch and English, adjustable). Original ads proclaimed it was accurate to 5 seconds daily, impressive for the time, but also matched by the 510 Th. price (sold in the United States for $525). Production of the Timemaster ended in 1979, making production, which was limited to a maximum of 999 per month, fairly low. Today, such watches are fairly expensive, selling for upwards of 700 euros. A Timemaster II model was produced from 1980-1988, which came with a speedometer sweep. Orsini started the production of a new Timemaster, the model III, in June 2019. Other models Orsini Explorer.png|Orsini Explorer Orsini Adventurer.png|Orsini Adventurer Orsini Tennis Pro-DIAL.png|Orsini Pro-DIAL Sponsorship Orsini sponsored the Koningstad Open golf tournament from 1996-2010, giving its name to the event from 2002-2005, when it was known as the Orsini Open. Since 2011, Orsini is the main sponsor of the PBG Tour, als known as the Orsini Tour. See also *Official website Category:Middleton Category:Caroline Park Category:The Port Category:Watch manufacturing companies